Office of the Ombudsman

An analyst called and said she’d been asked by a vendor client to attend its “user group” meeting and present an award to the end user that this vendor had determined had the most advanced implementation of its product. My team declined this request, as it could have looked like an endorsement by that analyst […]

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An analyst joined Gartner from an IT Services company but his “coverage area” was not at all related to IT Services. About a year later, his coverage area changed and he is now covering IT Services. He asked me if he had to sell his stock in his former employer’s company. The answer is yes. […]

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While I’m at Symposium, I thought it might be helpful to share the rules that Gartner has in place to ensure that Gartner’s research positions and event activities remain separate and distinct from vendor marketing activities. At Gartner events more than anywhere else, analysts and vendors intermix, so it’s imperative that all Gartner clients understand […]

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A vendor client of Gartner had a full-day session with an analyst where the vendor presented its detailed upcoming product plans and got lots of feedback from this analyst (Gartner calls it “SAS” – or Strategic Advisory Services). Two weeks later, the analyst announced that he was leaving Gartner to join a major competitor of […]

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Shortly after Gartner first launched the Office of the Ombudsman, the Office also started a blog, with the idea of being completely transparent about the issues of objectivity, completeness and accuracy that cross our desks every day. It sounded good “on paper,” but many issues turned out to be so sensitive and potentially explosive in […]

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